Classes Session 1 • May 19-22, 2023
Click on the + sign to see the class description. Click on the teacher photo or name to go to her bio page.
When you think of the world “Disabled,” what comes to mind: a woman in a wheelchair, a man who is mute, or a crippled child? And yet this word has a longstanding tradition of misinterpretation and alienation. Let’s take a deep dive into the political and cultural history of this word and the people who live in it. We will also dissect the concept of ablelism and learn how we can identify it in ourselves and the world. Finally we will embark on exercises to experience a life with disability.
For many of us, our relationships are the most important part of life. We often find that the more intimate the relationship the more triggered we can become, and harder conversations are often left unresolved.
In this class we will sip soothing tea and use aromatic plants to support our nerves as we practice the easy to learn steps of relationship repair.
In today’s changing world we are faced with a lot of confusion and pressure around sexuality.
How do we help our children live empowered life’s that include consent, pleasure and educated choice?
In this class we will explore shame culture, consent, internalized misogyny and the colonization of womanhood and reproduction.
We will ask the question; How do we as parents impart body & sex positivity to our children in a world of sex and body shame? How do we respond to, and offer alternatives to the dysfunctional and unrealistic sexual content that is so readily available at the click of a button?
Nourishing herbal infusions are a beautiful and mindful practice to bring into your relationship with plants and your body. This class will explore the concept of herbal infusions and how they can deeply nourish multiple systems of the body and mind as well as be used for acute herbal care. We’ll explore and taste a wide variety of nourishing herbs in their simplest infusion form - as well as taste a few infusion blends. We’ll discuss the nutrient profiles, herbal actions, safety and long-term benefits of creating a daily nourishing herbal infusion practice and how infusions can replace many of your expensive bottles of vitamins while contributing to better health as well as your relationship to your body.
After getting out of your vehicles, come and enjoy the beautiful welcome from the amazing green beings who open their home to us. Learn a bit of their magical attributes which they so sweetly offer us. Ground yourself in the peace and beauty of Black Oak Ranch.
Come visit our plant elders and experience their habitat and companion choices. We will discuss their preferences and needs. We'll also discuss their many gifts, and how sometimes their habitat makes them not appropriate for medicine making.
Last fall, during both Symposium sessions, we dove into the world of writing as a personal healing tool. This spring, we’re taking it to the next level with one-on-one, lottery style, help sessions with Dakota. Twenty chances to win! Sign up early and often at the wellness tent. Bring your stories. Dakota can help you bring them to life for personal use, or for inclusion in the Women Gone Wild ~ Women Gone Wise, Anthology of Transformation.
Also, if you just have a story you’d like to share for another special project (details at Symposium), you don’t even have to write it! Dakota will write it from your recorded, interviewed narrative.
Stories need not be true, experienced personally, or developed—they need only be meaningful to you. Cultural women’s myths, legends and ancestral stories are welcome.
This is a lottery you can’t lose! If your name isn’t drawn, or you don’t have time during symposium, call Dakota to set up some other time: 906–250–3771.
Chest & Breast Care
My main objective is to teach you about what your breasts are communicating. How many times have you found a lump and immediately think it means only one thing, cancer? If it is, early detection is everything. In more cases than not, it is a lymph node communicating with us, telling us something is not in balance. If your breasts are not getting enough blood flow they will be cold and tight (icy river water), if they are not receiving enough hydration, they can be fibrous and depleted (dry river bed). If inflammation is present, it is not uncommon to find a cyst (forest fire) and when there is excess fluid trapped in the breasts (dams in the river) it needs to be drained.
In Ayurveda, the lymphatic system is called “Rasa” the river of life. When healthy, The lymph river flows effortlessly to meet the bloodstream at the center of our heart space. This innate flow is considered our highest potential of vitality. Our immune system and lymphatic system are one in the same. The immune system and our hormones utilize the lymphatic river to get where they need to go to support our whole body's health. When we get symptoms of pain, fatigue, and skin changes, it is our body's way of telling us we are out of balance. By opening up the flow of our lymphatic system, we allow those built-up imbalances to be processed and removed or assimilated into the body as needed.
This class is designed to teach you how to explore, map, and understand the terrain of your breast tissue. We will cover:
- Lymphatic Immune Systems 101
- What our lymphatic river looks like and consists of
- How to assess the lymphatic system through touch
- Massage techniques and investigation of our rivers
- Use of the Chinese Gua Sha
- How to investigate and track your lymph symptoms
- Signs of a cancerous lumps verses finding a hard lymphatic node
- Remedies, nutrition and techniques for each individual
- Includes: handouts and protocols
Education is everything. Together we will be facing our fears without shame or judgment, empowering ourselves through touch and care, and discovering the tools and remedies that work for us as individuals.
Creating a Safe, Sacred Container
Womb Space. Rooted Energy. Anatomical Placement
- No shame environment
- Normalizing through Touch & Care
- Facing fears is empowering
- Education is everything
- Individuality is the key to a healthy life
Together we will be facing fear of the unknown while investigating our womb space with love, care, and curiosity. We will investigate our tissues and find solutions and remedies that work for us. As we re-awaken this deeply intuitive aspect of our bodies, and learn how to truly listen to what our tissues are telling us about our health, we will co-create a compassionate and safe space for everyone to explore their bodies and move through whatever may arise.
The uterus is explored through the abdominal tissues, internal examination is not needed to find it or support it. We will be showing you how to identify if the uterus is out of alignment and how to gently bring it back into alignment. The uterus is our body's internal compass, returning the uterus to its natural position can not only bring relief from painful menses, but can bring a deeper sense of embodiment and personal power. How amazing that in just 5 minutes the uterus can be massaged and returned home by gravity itself.
I will be teaching:
- How to locate the uterus anatomically
- How to use gravity to flow it back home to the central womb
- How to hold space for uterus bearing bodies
- Including:
- 3 live demos
- Practice hands-on care
This class repeats. See Primal Rhythm, 1 for full description.
Inflammation seems to be in the news frequently these days, but what does it really mean? How does it affect us, why does it happen, and what can we do to reduce it? Recent scientific studies have shed light on how inflammation is the cause of a wide variety of autoimmune disorders, as well as mental health conditions. There have also been studies that found how much our belief systems can affect how inflamed our bodies are. Let’s dive into what this mysterious culprit is, what we know, and what our lived experiences are with inflammation. Bring a story to share!
Experience matchless fire starting and become a member of the Fire Devas. Join us if you would like to be a Sacred Fire Tender this session. Establish an intimate relationship with this powerful elemental. Holding the central fire is an act of service, a source of healing and a teacher of awareness.
Using the coals from our Sacred Fire we will create medicine, eating, or cauldron spoons or bowls. Learn the time honored skill of coal burning. A small carving knife will be necessary to complete your spoon or bowl. Class size is limited and starts on time. Due to the nature of the class it is only open to adults.
We will continue. Must have attended part 1. See part 1 for full description.
Balancing blood sugar is a delicate hormonal dance. The hormonal system is our own personal team of first responders, responding to all the elements that make up life, allowing us to stay in balance.
Our blood nourishes every cell, feeds the brain, and has to respond to everything we eat. It’s influenced by and responds to all of our stressors, as well as the quality and quantity of our dietary intake. Blood sugar balance, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, and diabetes is also a health epidemic. In this intensive, we will break down blood sugar balance using the principles and perspective of:
- Whole food nutrition
- Ayurveda
- Herbal Allies
- Self Care
- Lifestyle Habits
Understanding the holistic, whole body perspective is key to finding balance, which leads to balancing hormones, cultivating right-size body weight, improving cognitive function, prevents cancer, increase energy and better sleep, to name a few.
What we eat, our portion size, and the timing of our meals all play into the intricate dance of hormonal balance and how all the hormones play into supporting the whole system to regulate blood sugar.
Eating for hormonal balance is a different approach that gets better results It’s not about counting calories, it’s about honoring our metabolic hormones on a daily basis to allow our bodies to find it’s natural rhythm.
The healing principles of Ayurveda. Contemporary principles of Holistic Nutrition. Self-care tips and tools - herbal, nutritional and lifestyle support. Discover the cast of nutrients your bones really need. Learn about digestion, absorption, gut health, eating for your constitution, common deficiencies, herbal allies and best food preparation methods. Best food preparation techniques for nutrient density. Assessing your digestion and absorption - assessment and remedies. Nutrient deficiencies and optimizing gut health
Connecting the dots between chronic stress & its impact on metabolic
health, blood sugar balance, and the hormonal system. Nutrition, herbal, and lifestyle support to balance and optimize the adrenals and hormonal system to heal the metabolism.
Adrenal Fatigue can show up in many forms, including:
- A depressed immune system
- Leaky gut
- Low energy
- Weight Gain
- Hormonal Imbalance
- Cravings
- Difficult Sleeping
- Pre-diabetes & Diabetes
In this class, we’ll learn how our adrenals work, how they impact the metabolism, blood sugar balance, sleep, immunity, energy production, and the entire hormonal system.
This class will breakdown a holistic approach to nourish our adrenals and stop the domino affect of hormonal and metabolic imbalance. This approach is essential if we are ready to reclaim our health, gain energy, loose weight, and sleep better. We’ll learn how to look at our health through a different lens, so that our food and herbal remedies can meet our physiology and impact our overall health and energy levels. Our body is constantly trying to find balance. Let’s make sure we are giving it what it needs to achieve this so we can take back control of our energy and health!
We will continue. See part 1 for full description.
Join Melanya in this three hour yoni exploration and non-sexual yoni massage workshop. Yoni or pelvic massage/myofacial release/trigger point therapy is used by physical therapists, chiropractors, and midwives to help release bands of tense muscles to relieve vaginal pain, pelvic hypertension, and even hip pain to name a few benefits. In this course we will practice hands-on skills on ourselfves or with a partner. Once back home we can continue practicing these skills on ourselves or close friends in a safe environment. This class is for teens and adults. You must complete part 1 to participate in part 2, but it's ok to attend just part 1 if desired.
We will continue. See part 1 for full description.
You must complete part 1 to participate in part 2, but it's ok to attend just part 1 if desired.
Come, let’s eat, drink and learn together! All are welcome to this course that introduces Jewish cultural plant uses. We’ll experience food as medicine, tasting and learning, focusing on dill, parsley, onion and garlic, as we make a vegetarian matzo ball soup together. Then we’ll make a ‘glessele tea’, learning why Maimonides (12th century Jewish sage) so prized ‘chamomile water’, as well as a modern understanding of best preparation.
While actively getting healthier together, we’ll learn lots, starting with a foundational overview of the global nature of the Jewish diaspora and its medicines. Generous time allotted for questions and discussion. We’ll explore the idea of ethnobotany itself, learn some of many sources for further exploration, and a bibliography will be provided. Please bring your containers for eating and drinking.
As we continue our journey, we encounter the concept of accepting the bitter along with the sweet, and finding the sweet amidst the bitter, throughout Jewish texts across time/space. One physical manifestation of this idea is the oxymel, a mixture of vinegar and honey, infused with medicinal herbs.
In this hands-on class we’ll learn about a handful of herbs used in Jewish ethnobotany, and then, each according to her need, we will select herbs and try two simple methods of making oxymels. Once we’ve made those medicines, we’ll get a taste of a few traditional syrups, along with recipes, lore, and general schmoozing. Note, be prepared to care for your oxymels in (provided) small glass jars for two weeks before beginning to use.
Calling all Jewish* sisters! Many years we have informally gathered to celebrate Shabbat. This year we are announcing in advance that we are creating a special place for us to meet one another, to talk about connecting our practices (Judaism and Herbalism), to celebrate Shabbat and Havdalah. Enter the circle outside the Wellness Tent.
We'll begin to gather at 8 to meet one another and kibbitz, we'll celebrate Shabbat at 8:25. This first gathering is just for Jewish women* to meet & create community, we warmly welcome allies of every stripe on Saturday night. Enter the circle outside the Wellness Tent.
*any woman with any Jewish heritage or practice is welcome.
This is a short ceremony, @ 10 minutes. Everyone is very welcome, but please plan to stay for the whole time as it is a sacred ritual (involving spices!). We'll begin to gather at 8, ceremony at 8:26. Enter the circle outside the Wellness Tent.
INTENSIVE: Vital Child: Herbal Wisdom to Support Children’s Health and Well-being all levels
Join us for this four hour herbal intensive, as we learn herbal remedies and lifestyle tools, to support and build our children’s health.
In this class we will go over the most common childhood ailments such as fever, eruptive skin symptoms, respiratory health, digestive complaints, etc. We will go deep into each main category of symptom and begin to get to the root of what is the cause of these symptoms, and assess how the body is attempting to bring balance. Most importantly, we will discuss how we can assist and not stop the body in its quest for healing. There will be many demonstrations within this class as well as hands on opportunities to make remedies to bring home. Please bring a writing implement as well as note pad to take notes. Each participant will also receive an informational packet chock full of supportive materials and resources. Instructor: Penelope Sullivan Certified Holistic Nutritionist/Family and Nutritional Herbalist.
There will be a $15 supply fee for this class.
Using West Coast fungi and lichen dyed wool, this class will explore the process of using a resist to create an artistic wet felted hat to keep to keep you warm and fashionable on your wild plant and mushroom forays. We will touch on foraging, dying process, and fiber preparation but the main focus will be on the felting process. Participants can choose from project designs that can be practical, whimsical or somewhere in between. This introduction to wet felting class is a great jump-off point for creating many beautiful and functional felted items. Wet felting is slightly physical, come prepared to get a great upper-body work out and a little wet. Projects can be completed within these class sessions.
We will spend this time to finish our Noggin Caps.
Learn traditional drumming and dances from Ghana, West Africa.
Learn traditional drumming and dances from Ghana, West Africa.
Feminine health & fertility (regardless of the decision to have children or not, or whether we bleed or hold our blood within) smooth flow of energy and joyous vitality are paramount to our wellbeing. Drawing from the ancient Marma Therapy of Ayurveda, we’ll shine some light into women’s magnetism and radiance.
We will discover marma - sensitive points or areas on the body through which the flow of life-force can be affected to heal, nourish and rejuvenate the body, harmonize the mind and magnify the presence of spirit. Within a sacred ritual space we will use sounds, herbal oils, pressure, and gentle massage. Stilling the mind and projecting healing energy we will be enchanting marmas related to those precious parts and systems that make us uniquely feminine, nourishing inner and outer beauty, fertility (in the greater sense!), radiant sexuality & sensuality, emotional harmony, re-kindling the light of the innate feminine essence.
This is a two-part class: partnering with a sister we will learn to give and receive healing and love.
Part 1 will be the Ritual invocation and one partner will receive. In Part 2 the second partner will receive and the Ritual will close.
We will continue. See part 1 for full description.
An introduction to at-home herbalism and kitchen witchin’. This class is a two-part series that will give beginning herbalists a foundation for making their own remedies; experienced herbalists will receive a chance to revisit the basics. We will also briefly go over the history of herbalism to remind ourselves that herbalism is an ancient human practice. We will acknowledge our ancestors who sustained their families with their plant medicine prowess. We will reclaim herbalism as our birthright.
This class will have lots to smell, taste, see, and touch as we listen to the lore of herbs, engaging all our senses. As we travel through different ways to work with plants we will get to know several herbal allies along the way. Each class will end with Q & A as time allows.
We will continue. See part 1 for full description.
This class will journey through the Wheel of The Year with emphasis on the four Celtic Fire festivals (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas). We will dive deep into these four festivals and discover the goddess lore, magickal herbs, and Celtic ancestral wisdom contained within each one. In the minds of ancient Celts “herbalism” was not a distinct category apart from everyday life. We will cover traditional foods, crafts, and ceremony ideas with magickal herbs woven throughout a life lived in celebration of the Goddess. As a Celtic descendant and Green Witch I am delighted to offer this class for any who feel curious or called.
Crones
Crones, come share lunch with other Wise Crones. We will discuss loving life after menopause, finding joy, appreciation, and health in our Crone years. We will also discuss our part in the Maiden’s Rites of Passage Ceremony and our own Crone’s Honoring Ritual.
This is time to reflect and share our experiences of Cronehood and our love for our Wise Crone ways and bodies. Past menopause and into memorypause, we will tell our stories. A time to make a ritual Crone Broom will follow.
Crones, come share another lunch with other Wise Crones. We will continue our plans for the Maiden’s Rites of Passage and our own Crone’s Honoring Ritual.
Join us for a quiet honoring of the loss of an unborn child through miscarriage or abortion.
Young Women
Making friends and dating can be really scary and confusing sometimes. Does this person like me? Do they *more* than like me? Is what they’re doing okay? Am I being a good friend? We will explore some exercises to help us get clear on what is a healthy relationship, what friendships are probably best to walk away from, and how to tell the difference. Bring a journal for self-reflection writing.
Curious about poi spinning? Have you ever seen fire dancing? Poi spinning is good introduction to flow arts. Join poi-teacher Loreta to learn and master the fundamental moves and transitions of poi! Move your body while enriching your mind!
Poi spinning is a beautiful art. If you ever wanted to try this, this is your chance. Or maybe you already know some of the moves and want to improve it, this is a class for you too.
We will cover the basics, turns, transitions, stalls and other techniques. We will have some sets of poi to play with.
We will discuss consent and various gender anatomy, contraception, and yes, sex! This will be more of a discussion than a lecture and involve a yoni puppet as well as time for anonymous questions. Ages depends on interest and maturity level of individual. Limited to 20 young women.
Mass media and main stream culture often give the impression that women and girls can’t protect themselves. This is not true! It’s our basic nature to be able to do so and we can learn how to be the most effective. In this class we’ll learn basic principles and practices to keep ourselves safe in emergency situations. We’ll practice getting support if we’ve gone through a scary situation, so our challenges can be transformed into wisdom resources and community healing. Let’s prepare for what may come our way and grow our courage together!
Here’s an invitation to try on ways to be emotionally strong and compassionate, both with ourselves and others. We’ll explore Aikido energy moves and the emerging science of Positive Neuro-plasticity. Come learn simple practices that can make a big difference right away. Candid, confidential conversation will deepen the relevance of what we’re learning. Take this unique opportunity to be with other young women in safe, creative circle. Our supportive Symposium community is the ideal environment for growing into our most radiant, life-affirming power.
Welcome maidens, to the Circle of Women! Join us in celebrating the beauty and strength of this phase of your life, the time of your bloods. We will explore ideas and feelings, hear stories, make things to care for ourselves and prepare for the Maiden’s Rites of Passage Ceremony to be held Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. Any young woman who would like to go through the Maiden Ceremony must attend this class.
Mid Kids
Do you want to learn more about the herbs that are safe and easy for you to prepare for yourself? Would you like to taste and sample a whole bunch of different, roots, berries, seeds and more to see if you like them or not, and learn how to make your own delicious, nourishing infusions? Infusions are a special kind of tea that have lots of vitamins and minerals that make them extra nutritious for you. They are also a safe way for kids to take charge of their own herbal wellness. BRING YOUR CUP and prepare to meet and taste all kinds of yummy herbs!
This hands-on class will create the cutest little mini first aid kits - perfect for you to put in your backpack or lunch bag to have on hand, and especially handy when you want a small, portable first aid kit for your outdoor adventures. We will talk about all of the remedies in the kit, which comes with a booklet for notes and to remind you how to use the remedies. If there is time, we’ll make a special first aid remedy together at the end to include in our kits!
This class will talk all about how we can use herbs in tea form to make our bath time medicinal and healing for our bodies while we soak. Herbal baths have all kinds of benefits, and we will talk about the different herbs and what they can do for you when you use them in the bath. We will blend a special bath tea for each of you to take home to try for your selves!
Avast ye maties and welcome to pirateology. Put on your eye patches and scarfs and join Captain Redwood as we learn seashanties and how to tie knots. We will set sail on the seven herbal seas to find the Pirate Queen’s buried treasure. So board the ship, hoist the jolly roger and set sail with Captain Redwood.
Let’s make felt purses, pouches, and gnomes! There will be lots of colors and patterns to choose from, and you can stay for as long as you like to make as many creations as you want. If you’ve never sewn before, that’s totally okay! We will learn together.
Curious about poi spinning? Have you ever seen fire dancing? Poi spinning is good introduction to flow arts. If you ever wanted to try it, this is a class for you. Or if you already know some moves, we can learn more tricks.
Come and learn and we can perform together during the talent show on Saturday night. We will have some sets of poi to play with.
Express your awesome powers in movement: shining like a star, sitting like a mountain, rolling like a river, floating like a butterfly, leaping like an antelope and more..! Aikido is the martial art of following nature’s way.
Let’s play with fun hands-on moves from the martial art of Aikido, following the ways of Nature. We’ll explore how to strengthen your Center and return to Center when you feel off. Learn surprising ways the energy of an attack can be transformed into Connection. Join the energy of Nature and feel its power moving you.
Other Classes
Come join us for an evening under the late spring constellations. Guided by a green laser wand, you’ll learn to find your way around the night sky and the names of the stars and constellations, while hearing folklore from different times and cultures. We’ll meet the bright shining stars of the Twins, the Lion, Virgo, the Scorpion, and more… You will also be dosed with Essence Elixirs!
Early Morning Classes
Wear loose clothes and bring a yoga mat if you have one.
The ancient practice of Vipassana, or Insight, meditation is one of observing—and coming into balance with—life as it is. This technique results in a foundational restructuring of the mind, by learning to perceive subtle and profound expressions of natural law (universal truth) through one’s own direct experience.
Long-term practitioners report:
Relief from destructive mental habit patterns
A general sense of happiness and well-being.
Release from addiction.
Greater confidence
Higher productive capacity
A greater understanding of one’s own path and purpose
Developing mental concentration through observation of breath related sensation
Expanding practice by observing sensation throughout the body
loving compassion meditation
Inensives
Women of Color Rising
Sisters Honoring Sisters at NCWHS
Since 1991, NCWHS has been creating space to celebrate womanhood through reclaiming women’s sacred wisdom, ritual, and herbal knowledge predominantly in the Western European traditions. From the beginning, NCWHS has included women from many different traditions, although the majority attending have generally been of European heritage. In 2019, we began an open conversation about race led by Holly Calica of Nueva Luna Wellness. And, that work continues. Just as we—as women—have been intentional about creating space for ourselves to come together and heal, in 2023, we came together again to create intentional space for women of color within the Symposium, a safe space within a safe space.
We are excited to continue to deepen our awareness of how we all can best support racial and ethnic diversity and belonging for all members of our community for this year and in the subsequent years to come.
A deep bow of Gratitude to Aya de Leon, Shereel Washington, Naomi Stein, and Susannah Mackintosh for creating and leading us in this effort.
In our efforts to be more welcoming to women from diverse cultural backgrounds we will do the following.
Session 2 & 3
Have Courageous Conversations around Race, Ethnicity, and Belonging at NCWHS during our Open Forum to which all are welcome and encouraged to attend!
Have classes that are culturally specific and led by Women of Color
Support Women of Color gathering in supportive spaces on the grounds as a way to network and provide support to other Women of Color that are attending
Women of Color are also invited to come in early, on Thursday May 16, 23 & August 29 to ground together on the land before Symposium opens (WOC please email us if you'd like to do this at: ncwhs@monitor.net).
All Sessions
We will hold a class geared for white women titled: Hey White People Let’s Talk About Race.